The search for Hope
by Protectress of Dalidon
Summary: Two people from another world through the Gap discover that Balinor is nt so different from their home and so the decide to help. But the Shifter has other ideas. Please r/r, thanx
1. Dark realisations

                A.N: This is just a short chapter to get started, yes I will be adding characters for the books J

The water was so bitingly cold that for a moment I wondered if it had seeped into my blood and frozen the tears that should have been falling from my eyes. Suddenly there was no water, only the warmth of a brightly shining sun on damp cloth. I could breathe again and it felt wonderful.

*There is not much time Lady, you must hurry. The Singer is almost here.* The voice of my dapple-grey gelding gave me strength.

"She is on her way then Diego, have the others tried to follow?" The sad answer tore at my heart.

*They are still as you left them, on the banks looking the way you have come.*  A soft thump alerted me to my friend's arrival. She looked like a drowned rat, black hair stringy and tangled by the waves that had carried us to this new and safe world. 

"Rayel are you alright Singer?" She nodded spluttering.

"I believe they did this to show us that this was the easy way. Protector knows you hate water." She smiled slightly. "But then again Gem knows I love swimming, do you think he might be trying to put me off?" We laughed as a bay landed softly beside Diego. 

#Singer I have seen the surroundings, this clearing is isolated, there is no one near enough to notice our arrival.#

"There's something else isn't there Mahogany Gem?" The girl asked almost scared. I looked at the bay in confusion.

#There are creatures,# he began, #they are black as Darkness and have eyes a red as the coals of Ire but they have no wings, none at all. They are evil Singer and Lady. The Dark one has beaten us.# Rayel shook her head, water dripping from her hair, brown eyes closed in grief.

"Are you sure?" I looked to Diego, hoping he would not confirm the disaster that was so close.

*I have seen them Lady of the Golden Wings. It would appear that the Guild has been broken for no reason. The Dark One has already started to crumble this place. The last of the royal family is missing.*

"No." The word whispered away all the hopes we had. 

"Where are we?" I tried to stay calm, it was my responsibility to care for the Singer, or Prophet, and for anyone else we would involve.

#The black creatures called this world Balinor.# Diego stamped his steel hoof and spread his great wings. Silver glittered along the featheredges. The bay did the same, dark gold glittering in the now late afternoon sun.

"There is nothing we can do now Zanna, these people are doomed as well." She was close to tears.

"I will never let the Dark One claim all worlds. We must try to help, no matter the cost. There are too many lives at stake in Dalidon alone but now we have another world to look after. Balinor. For the sake of the Guild we cannot give up." She stood carefully, leaning on her Mahogany Gem.

"I will stay by you no matter what Zanna, unless I am called back."

*You have won them Lady. Time to go?* I shook my head. _Not yet Diego, fleetest of the Heaven Chasers, not yet. First we rest. _Diego walked away, finding a patch of dry grass he lay down. The trees echoed with noises of creatures we had never heard before. None of us slept well that first night.


	2. The Inn

                A.N: Hey, none of the characters in 'Unicorns of Balinor' belong to me and nor do the places. I'd really like to know what you think so if you could R/R it would be good, thanks!

"The inn keeper was very kind to let us stay here." Rayel said as she shovelled the muck from the stall. The smell of straw and feed filled the air.

"Master Samlett seems to trust us, which is wonderful considering we look so different." Having claimed we were from the North the owner of the Unicorn Inn decided to see what we could do to pay for food and board. It appeared that even with full help there were chores skipped over. Because Diego and Gem were with us the stables had been handed over to our care after testing our skills. The paint unicorn looked at us quietly.

"You're not from North are you?" He asked. Rayel jumped, startled. 

"We are. Why do you ask Unicorn?" I replied. He shifted his hooves uneasily, his brown and white coat shifting as he fidgeted.

"They say there are bears up North and that there's a river that carries off luggage. You don't look like they did and you haven't said anything about bears." I frowned, this was not looking good. Diego stepped forward and almost touched muzzles with the paint.

*There were two girls, a hornless unicorn and a dog. He thinks that the servant was nobler born than her mistress. He doesn't remember their names.*  The sun was setting slowly and the Inn was beginning to light up with candles, lanterns and laughter. Darkness began to shadow the clear night.

"What is your name Unicorn?" Rayel asked, her eyes taking on a glazed look. 

"Orchard Shadow, but everyone calls me Apples." We waited. The black haired girl shook her head.

#No one mentioned names.# I almost laughed. We had for a moment an idea of how to act and then none at all. 

"Apples we need your help. We were sent to find some important people here and were told there would be four of them. Two girls, a dog and a hornless unicorn, can you help us?" He shuddered violently and his eyes began to roll in his head, the whites showing. The stalls turned an icky black tinged with yellow and a foul smell entered the air. Diego screamed. A bloodshot lidless eye glared at us and the voice sent shivers down our spines.

_You're next wanders. Arianna, Arianna, Arianna… The voice trailed away and the unicorn fell to his knees. Instinctively I tried to help him, Diego spread his massive wings, tips slightly touching the sweat-drenched coat. _

*Keep away Lady, you must never touch one such as this. There is the mark of Darkness on this one.*

Cluttering buckets alerted us, Rayel spun around. The round Inn Keeper stood in the doorway. 

"What's been happening in here? I say in here?" He caught sight of Diego's almost folded wings. "What, I say what is that?" I looked to Rayel, her eyes were totally glazed and Gem was barely keeping her upright. 

"We need your help Mister Samlett, something is wrong with this unicorn."

                                ****************************************

                We had told the kind Innkeeper everything we could  about the paint and then about ourselves. He listened and asked questions but didn't seem to take much of it in. He was almost as out of it as Rayel who was lying on the softened old sacks. 

"So you see Mister Samlett we must find the two girls, the dog and the hornless unicorn. If it si as we fear then not only are the party in danger but there is little anyone who has no Gift can do to help and your Gift of Truth-listening is only of help here and not on their journey. We must help in some way."

He sat quietly for a time. All you could hear was the ragged breathing of the paint sprawled on the stall floor, not even Samlett would touch him.

"Well now, I say well now, I don't know what to say to that now do I?" Diego whinnied anxiously as a dark cloud moved across the sliver of moon. The stable began to shrink around us but Samlett was unworried by it, he seemed not to notice at all. Suddenly a soft lavender light flooded in, scooping everyone except Samlett up into the sky.

_Sleep travellers, you need not fear now._ The soft bell-like voice soothed the worries from my mind, Rayel's eyes closed and her body relaxed. Diego wuffled my hair.

*It's alright, she says she is called Atlanta, the Dreamspeaker.*


	3. The Lavender light

                A.N: Now I only own the characters you have never read about in Balinor, ok, have fun!

                The sun was warm as I opened my eyes in the peaceful meadow but something was wrong, I could feel it, something was watching with an evil mind behind the gaze. I tried to sit up but my arms refused to hold my weight, even my muscles Protector had drilled so hard into strength failed. I was resting my head on the ground once more when there was a terrifying scream that pierced through my skull and sent shuddering waves along all my nerves, even ones I had almost destroyed in battle.

"Stormcloud Diego!" It tore my throat and I could hear the stunned silence. Struggling to my feet I gathered re4athe into my gasping lung and screamed again.

"Soar Diego! Come to me!" There was a thud and then the grey shadow landed behind me.

*Come Lady, all is not right.* Leaping onto the broad back I waited. Suddenly I realised we had forgotten Rayel. I swore. 

"Rayel Crystalsong, get up!" No answer, not a flicker of movement except the pounding of hooves coming towards us, it was a stampede. Diego was fidgeting and making me panic. Where was Rayel and Gem? I knew something was wrong but I couldn't figure it out. Then it happened, a voice littered the air with malice, it was calling a name, two names and the screaming took over and the voice I knew too well. I fell from Diego's back with my ears clenched beneath my hands. The massive grey reared as he felt my agony, the hooves were still coming.  Diego screamed a challenge and then the hooves slowed on the green grass. Slowly a great gold stallion stepped forward, eyes challenging and nostrils flaring red. The horrible screams had stopped and I stood by my grey steadily. No deformed Dawnwing Stallion was going to scare me.

"Stand down golden one or I will call on the power of the Guild." He just looked at me confused, but the effect calmed him.

"How are you strangers?" The tone was glowing and powerful, much like the stallion.

"I am Zanna Dawnwings, Protectress of Dalidon, Bonded to Stormcloud Diego, Fleetest of the Heaven Chaser. I am the Partner of Protector and a member of the Guild. We will fight Darkness and his Bonded Dark One until the end. Who are you?"

"I am Numior the leader of the Celestial Unicorns. This is the Celestial Valley and this is my mate, Atlanta the Dreamspeaker." A lavender mare stepped forward, her violet eyes warm and welcoming but I saw in them a sadness reflected in the glorious coats of the other unicorns who began to come forward. The lavender mare stepped closer to me.

"You are one of the wanderers that have stirred the evil here, I am sorry to see the pain and hopelessness in your dreams. We will try to help you."

"That is very kind of you, we must be a terrible threat if the danger is as great as you say." The mare nodded, her eyes were sad but there was hope in them. Suddenly a small grey shape came darting up to me. One of the mares dashed forward, trying to slide between us. 

"My name's Myra, are you really able to talk to the big grey? I said hello but he didn't answer." The mare was a dark green and stood behind Numinor's shoulder.

"He has difficulty speaking out loud but he's very good at thought speaking, it's where he talks in your head." The filly nodded. She looked steadily at Diego with a concentrated look on her face. He smiled and lowered his head, the tip of his horn touching the ground at her tiny hooves.

*She says she'll try really hard at her studies if you let her and the other foals talk to me and Gem, they want to play too.* I smiled.

_Do you want to play?_

*I believe that it would be fun. I miss the young Flitters.* I nodded. The filly ran her short horn up Diego's in welcome. Her mother seemed to relax a little as her filly came back to stand with her.

"He says he likes to help with little ones. He called me a Flitter mummy." The mare looked at Diego.

*They are the young of the Heaven Chaser clan; they flitter among the mist when they haven't been or the first flight. She hasn't changed colour from foal grey so she is like a Flitter.* The mare looked startled and then laughed.

"I think the filly has shown us what we needed to know. For now you can stay here." The golden stallion then greeted Diego and the rest of the heard calmed down. They seemed to split and then I realised why there were so many stallions, they were all paired. There was a single stallion for every mare. Diego looked somewhere at the back for a moment, Gem was walking with a smile on he face, Rayel sat proudly on his bay back.

"They are my friends, Rayel Crystalsong astride Mahogany Gem, Darkest of the Firestones."


	4. A striking blow

                A.N: as before, nothing except non-Balinorian things and events that aren't mentioned in the books belong to me.

                Gentle breezes played among the flowers in the cool green grass as I watched the grey foals dance. One brave colt named Devi was so determined to prove himself to the older greys he continued on even when his eyelids were drooping with exhaustion. The elder mare called him commandingly as he stumbled again. Grudgingly the young one collapsed at her feet and was instantly asleep. A smile touched the mare's eyes and her jewel glowed with pride.

"My name is Archer." Said a tall grey that had come quietly through the grass.

"I'm Zanna as you probably know." I replied smiling at the filly. "Shouldn't you be with the others?" She shook her head, the forelock that barely touched her horn flicked to one side.

"My coat's starting to change, see?" She held up her foreleg proudly. There was green tinging the pastern and fetlock. I looked closer and realised that it was grass stains. I rubbed her fetlock and the colour came off.

"Hey, that's my coat on your fingers!" Archer exclaimed.

"It was just grass stains from romping in the fields. It looked very convincing too." The filly sadly rubbed her face on her legs, transferring the green to her face. "You never know," I continued, "you might very well end up being green when you do grow into your adult coat."

"And I thought is was my colour too. My dam is a pretty pastel yellow and my sire is the deepest blue for a long time. I wanted to be green because that way I could be like both my parents. Besides Myra's dam is a green and she's beautiful." 

*Look at her tail Lady, that one may be green yet.* 

"Never believe you're not beautiful Archer," I reached out and rubbed the patches off her face. "Look inside to find beauty, that's where it counts." She gazed at me with a wondering expression. 

"Is it normal to have a diamond around your jewel?" I asked her, she shook her head. "I think you may have a white diamond, we call it a star marking, around your horn. Here, to here, to here and then back again." I traced the edges of the white hairs and felt magic racing up my arm.

*She will have traces of Dalidonian magic and your protection forever now Lady, she had it already, knowledge of things even Dreamspeaker cannot know." 

"What did the Winged One say?" Archer pushed her muzzle into my shoulder.

"That he thinks you'll be special no matter what colour you are, even if you stay grey like Diego. He won't forget his curious Flitter Archer." She laughed brightly and reared slightly. Quickly she said farewell and raced off to join her herd mates. From behind there were real streaks of green in her tail.

                "Your stories have been well received and keep the young ones occupied while Numinor and I  prepare the herd for possible battle." Atalanta sighed. It was only days away from the Shifter's moon and the herd was getting restless. Rayel had told tales from her area, from her childhood and the exciting adventures that she and Gem Master had had while we were still in Dalidon. I shared stories of the forests and clearings and caves. We had both told the happy memories of times before Darkness threatened our people and the boys had saved us. It was strange, when we had demonstrated fighting manuveers on our Dawnwings there was a sense of excitement in the air. They had later approached Diego and Gem to help patrol, which they had naturally agreed to. 

"Believe me, we have enjoyed yours as much. I could see Rayel really get into the Old Mare ideas. I hope you didn't find her request to learn from you too rude." The mare shook her head, smiling, "Diego and Gem are rapt that they can learn new moves from Ash, it was very kind of him to agree to teach them." She smiled laughingly as we sat quietly for a time. She had shown me the group we had been looking for. The girl with bronze hair carried the magic of royalty while her mount was so powerful and yet he could not harness that power. The other girl was not endowered with a Gift yet she played an important part and the dog was so familiar that I could almost place him, but it slipped if I tried too hard. 

"The Princess Arianna is strong and bold, the Sunchaser is brave, Lincoln is loyal to the core and Lori will create and nurture the strength of tolerance among all she meets. So far they have not stretched themselves too far, until they see the end of their abilities they will be well. It may be when others become involved that things become difficult. Rayel and I will not disturb them, only help in ways that you are not able to if you wish that of us." Atalanta nodded as she came to another conclusion.

"Your friend is unwell, suffering too much. Her heart is pained but she will not allow help and there is but one that could heal her. There is a cloud that makes finding her in the Watching Pool difficult unless she is with the Bright One." She was referring to Gem, he had been practising with Ash and had tried to use his own magic, and it had created a shine to his coat that reflected attacks. 

"Rayel has been given much protection from the Gem Master, a part of his Gift instilled in her. She has also the duty of prophet for the Guild, she goes glassy-eyed and rambles before coming to us with a riddle. It is then my job to decipher it.  She needs contact with magic or she becomes weak. It has been with her since she was saved." The mare nodded. Quietly we left the clearing and began our separate duties. That night I slept well, no dreams from over the Ridge, or Gap as they called it. It was the first time I had a dreamless night since we had arrived.

                The patrols had not come in when I awoke. Rayel sat smiling at the herd as they walked up the banks of the Imperial River. The colts and fillies were dancing in the early morning light and Nana kept a watchful eye on them even though she joined the rainbow. One of the foals, noticing that the Caretaker wasn't watching, charged up to Rayel happily. It was bold little Devi.

#The Singer will help the Dreamspeaker and that young one may well help keep my Rider clearer.# The big bay sighed. #I miss our home Lady. We need to get back.# 

"Has Diego come back  yet?" I asked as his patrol group raised their voice in song. Gem shook his head. Devi skipped off and Rayel called her Bonded. Gem danced happily as Rayel mounted and set him in flight. Something niggled in my brain but refused to take hold. I would have to wait until the Dreamspeaker could help me see into the Watching Pool. 

                It was much later when the Dreamspeaker could see me.

"What has happened to Diego?" I asked as we walked the path to the Watching Pool. She shrugged and continued on. There was a pain beginning in my temples as I drew closer to the Pool, my lungs were growning tighter and the air was not enough. I could almost taste the feeling but it was still elusive. Atalanta called on the waters to show Diego. There he was, racing across the green forest grass at the farthest edge of the Balinorian area. Black shadows appeared in a group, steel grey horns and firey red eyes blazing. The leader screamed in triumph as my grey stumbled and fell. _Use your wings Diego!_ I cried helplessly. It was then I saw the bloodied slashes across his sides, the main muscles had been torn to tatters.

"Diego!" I couldn't help it, I screamed to him. The blacks sped up and swallowed my Sttromcloud in a clatter of hooves on flesh and bone.

*Fight on Lady, I will be wating in Dalidon for you.* There was a cry of fright as the great bulk of my Dawnwing vanished from the forest floor. As clichéd as it was I sank to my knees and cried. The pain in my temples was astonishing, tearing my mind and body apart. Diego was gone forever.


End file.
